Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Falsely accused young man subjected to atrocities in jail

I have a news story hot off the newswire, below, that fairly sums up our mission here. It is disgusting, and shocking, and difficult to read. If it doesn't get your blood boiling, you are not human. But I must preface it because without context it is meaningless.

Some self-anointed "enlightened" people think our site is unnecessary, or "crap." Most are content to snipe at us from behind the Lace Curtain (a term coined by Nicholas Davidson, author of The Failure of Feminism (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1988)),where women don't lie about rape and men can't be victims -- of anything -- except, of course, things other men do to them, because "patriarchy hurts men, too." Sigh. (I just attempted to post a pair of comments on one site that denigrated us -- I've advised the moderator that she'd do well to explain her libel of our site, because I am looking for one such site to sue (to make an example of). I am weary of mischaracterizations from the Self-Righteous Misinformed, and I told her that she might just be hearing from me in the form of a lawsuit).

Here's a story, below, where the incalculable harm to the man was caused not by patriarchy (surprise!) but by a false rape accuser. It underscores all the problems for the falsely accused that we routinely discuss here: innocent men are arrested and jailed for lengthy periods of time based on the say so of a lone accuser who, too often, turns out to be a liar; they are denied anonymity with, as here, often brutal effects on their their good names, their physical safety, their very lives, while the identities of their false accusers are guarded with all the tenacity that Clark Kent guards Superman's; and their false accusers are hardly ever charged, much less convicted. Here the false accuser had done it before. She's still not named, and there's no indication she will be charged. The innocent young man in questionn was jailed for a year and subjected to jailhouse atrocities after other prisoners read he was a "rapist" in the newspaper. Her motivation? Likely the compensation the UK gives rape "victims" (but the UK begrudges compensating men like this young man). You see, the UK gives women incentive to lie about rape, as we've previously discussed on this site.

If you think cases like the one below are in some manner "acceptable," kindly explain why. I would love to hear you say that it is unfortunate, but necessary, that some young men like this are cast into a false rape hell so that we might better fight the War on Rape. I'd love to hear you say that young men like this are necessary collateral damage.

A STEEL worker falsely accused of a knifepoint rape feared for his life in a year of hell behind bars.

Shattered Jason Duncan, 22, spoke of his ordeal last night after a jury rejected his accuser's lies in just an hour.

During his year on remand, Jason was beaten and attacked with razor blades, boiling water and spat on after other prison inmates found out that he was charged with rape.

And last night he said the false accusation of rape - made against him and pal Chris Hoey, 20, by a woman he knew - had destroyed his life.

Chris was freed on bail after 10 days but Jason was denied bail until his trial because his accuser insisted she was in fear of him.

He was moved to Glasgow's Barlinnie jail and was only freed earlier this month when both he and Chris were acquitted at their trial.

Jason, from Airdrie, Lanarkshire, who also looks after his elderly gran, said: "Being falsely accused of rape is every guy's worst nightmare.

"Then to be thrown in jail for a year with real sex beasts almost pushed me over the edge.

"I will never recover from being treated as a monster and being beaten and abused behind bars. It was the worst year of my life and I am lucky to have survived.

"I will never forgive that woman for what she has done to me. Her lies have destroyed me but she doesn't give a damn."

Upset and shaking as he recalled the nightmare ordeal that will haunt him for the rest of his life, Jason added: "Women who make up rape allegations not only ruin the lives of the guys who are wrongly accused, they are doing a huge injustice to genuine victims.

"It is difficult enough for victims to get rapists into court and get convictions without women like her making things up. It is unforgivable.

"I have great respect for women and I am very close to my mum and gran, who mean the world to me.

"They never doubted I was innocent and neither did my work, who supported me through it.

"They believed me and knew that I could never hurt a woman, but mud sticks and others who don't know me still find it hard to believe I am innocent and think there is no smoke without fire.

"I feel very strongly that genuine rape cases must be reported to the police straight away, but those who lie about it are the lowest of the low and a disgrace.

"I had known this woman for years.

"She invited us up for a drink and a bite to eat after a night out and I didn't think anything of it.

"She was fine when I left but then the next day the police turned up at my house and arrested me. I was then charged with rape and locked up.

"I spent all that time in jail because of her lies. She told police that she feared for her life if I got out because I did know her so I was refused bail."

Jason fears the woman made up the allegations to claim thousands of pounds in compensation.

He added: "The only reason I can think of is that she may have done it for the money - criminal compensation - because it can be paid out before the case even gets to court.

"Her lies have destroyed my life. She was throwing rape allegations about like sweetie wrappers and she didn't give a second thought about the consequences."

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is understood to have made a previous rape allegation against another man but the case did not go to court.

Jason said she invited him and his pal Chris, also from Airdrie, back to her flat after a night out last March.

The following day both men were arrested and charged with raping the woman, who claimed they had broken into her flat and attacked her at knifepoint.

They were banged up in Addiewell prison in West Lothian and suffered abuse and violence at the hands of fellow prisoners after they found out they were on remand for a sex crime.

When Chris was released on bail, Jason was transferred to Barlinnie for his own protection.

Both men were acquitted when a jury took just an hour to return a verdict of not guilty at the High Court in Falkirk earlier this month.

Jason said: "We told the other prisoners that we were in for theft but then they read it in the local paper that we had been accused of rape and our lives turned into hell. We were treated like monsters.

"We constantly received death threats and abuse and they would shout, 'Sex beast' at us. We had to have about 12 prison officers escorting us through the jail at visiting times to protect us because they were trying to attack us and throwing boiling water, razor blades and anything they could find at us.

"We were only allowed out of our cells for 10 minutes a day because our lives were in danger.

"Chris was released on bail after 10 days and I presumed I would get out too but they cuffed me and took me to Barlinnie, then locked me up with all the other sex beasts. I was devastated and thought I had been plunged into a never-ending nightmare.

"I was there for a year and spent every day with some of the worst sex beasts you could imagine. I will never get over it. I even tried to take my own life because it was unbearable.

"I just thank God I had the support of my family and my work or I wouldn't be here today.

"The jury, who were mostly women, saw right through her lies. Nothing she said made any sense and it was obvious she had made it all up.

"When I was first arrested and the police told me what I was alleged to have done I was physically sick. I couldn't believe anyone could be so cruel and sadistic as to have made all that up."

Call centre worker Chris went back to work soon after the court case but is struggling to cope with the aftermath.

He said: "I have found this whole thing impossible to deal with.

"I still cannot take it in. I have never been accused of anything like this in my life.

"I have a real problem with trusting people now and it has made me scared of women. I am going for counselling.

"I hardly knew this woman who accused me of raping her but she has ruined my life.

"For an innocent man to be branded a rapist is the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone.

"It was a living hell and there are still some folk who think there is no smoke without fire but we did nothing wrong and our innocence was proved."

Jason and Chris are now calling for stricter rules over criminal compensation payouts to alleged rape victims - who receive up to £7000.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority confirmed yesterday no conviction is needed before alleged victims get their cash and their eligibility is assessed on degrees of probability.

A CICA spokesperson said: "If we think it is more likely than not that someone was the blameless victim of a violent crime, we may be able to offer compensation, even if no offender was brought to justice.

"Where we have any evidence of fraud or attempted fraud we report it to the police and co-operate fully. If the police themselves tell us about a fraud, we will seek repayment because a fraud against us is a fraud against the taxpayer."

Are you the victim of false sex allegations? Contact the newsdesk on 0141 309 3251